In 2001, Emshoff became an associate professor in oral and maxillofacial surgery at the Medical University of Innsbruck. Since 2001 Emshoff has been a consultant at the University Hospital for Cranio-Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery at the Medical University of Innsbruck. Since 1998 he has been the head of the Orofacial Pain and Temporomandibular Disorder Unit.
Personal and family
In 2002, Rüdiger Emshoff married to the doctor Iris Emshoff and has three children with her. Together, the family lives in Innsbruck.
His clinical research focused on the development of rehabilitation methods of treating chronic facial pain. Also he did research on non-invasive imaging techniques to detect internal derangments and degenerative diseases of the temporomandibular joint. In 1997, he introduced ultrasonography as a new temporomandibular joint imaging modality, a technique which in the following decade has become one of the most recommended methods because of its noninvasiveness, inexpensiveness, and ability to evaluate the integrity of the temporomandibular joint. In the early 2000s, he pioneered the application of minimally-invasive temporomandibular joint surgery which has become a standard treatment for certain types of chronic temporomandibular disorder pain. Since the 2000s, Emshoff and his team have been working on a concept for integrating internal derangements and osteoarthrosis in the diagnostic approach to patients with temporomandibular joint pain. In 2003, Emshoff and colleagues were the first to demonstrate that concomitant morphological abnormalities of disc displacement and osteoarthrosis are not important factors in the pathogenesis of temporomandibular joint pain and dysfunction. This saves the patient from undergoing invasive arthroplastic procedures. In 2008, Emshoff and coworkers conducted the first humanclinical trial of a red low-level laser therapy for temporomandibular joint pain, a rehabilitation method which is currently being used worldwide. Further, in 2011, he developed a conceptual model for the identification of clinically relevant effects in the field of chronic temporomandibular pain. In the following years, this model has been widely accepted to be used in randomised clinical trials designed to show improved efficacy in chronic pain patients.
R. Gassner R, Bösch R, Tuli T, Emshoff R. Prevalence of dental trauma in 6000 patients with facial injuries: implications for prevention. Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, and Endodontology. 1999 Jan 1;87:27-33..
Emshoff R, Bösch R, Pümpel E, Schöning H, Strobl H. Low-level laser therapy for treatment of temporomandibular joint pain: a double-blind and placebo-controlled trial. Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, and Endodontology. 2008 Apr 1;105:452-6..
Strobl H, Emshoff R, Röthler G. Conservative treatment of unilateral condylar fractures in children: a long‐term clinical and radiologic follow‐up of 55 patients. International Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. 1999 Apr;28:95-8.
Emshoff R, Bertram S, Rudisch A, Gassner R. The diagnostic value of ultrasonography to determine the temporomandibular joint disk position. Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, and Endodontology. 1997 Dec 1;84:688-96. .
